Prisoner Review Board Votes to Release Taylor, Hyche Parole is Denied

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board Thursday voted to grant parole to James Taylor, one of the men in prison for the shooting death of Illinois State Police Trooper Layton Davis. The Review Board denied parole for Aaron Hyche, the man believed to have fired the shot that killed Trooper Davis.

(TROOPER LAYTON DAVIS)

Effingham County State's Attorney Bryan Kibler said the vote to grant Taylor parole was 8-5. Kibler said the factors in granting the release were Taylor's age and his lack of infractions while in prison through the years. He said Taylor should be released in the next day or two.

One order from the Review Board is that Taylor cannot set foot in Effingham County.

Taylor had received four votes for his release last year.

Meanwhile, the vote to deny Hyche's parole was 11-2. Hyche received no votes for his release last year.

Kibler said the members of the Review Board "had strong disagreements" as to whether either should be released.

Kibler spoke against parole for the pair, as did Jami Davis, the wife of Trooper Davis' grandson, Effingham Assistant Police Chief Kurt Davis. Effingham County Sheriff Dave Mahon and local resident Ron Will, both retired Illinois state troopers, also traveled to Springfield for the parole hearings.

Hyche and Taylor were convicted in 1976 for Davis' murder, which occurred after the trooper stopped the car the men were traveling in for speeding. They were being sought for a crime in Chicago and that's why they thought Davis had stopped them. The two overpowered the trooper and Hyche shot him. The two fled the scene and traveled into Effingham, where they stole another car and abducted the driver, Anna Mae Feldhake, now Anna Mae Willenborg, who was a Lake Land College student. They were eventually apprehended later that day after Hyche fired shots at another man.